Before I dive into this, I’m gonna make a strong recommendation that you seek physician’s approval, talk with a nutritionist and/or do a lot of research on the interwebs before you jump on the keto train. Not all bodies are made just alike.

In fact, it’s quite timely that I’m beginning to discuss this because just last Friday, I began to notice significant hair loss. I’ve had a friend go through this as well, but hers began roughly three months in rather than nearly six. There are a lot of reasons this can happen and I’m not an expert, but you can read more about it here and here.

My guess is mine was triggered by major stress about a month ago. Hubby broke his elbow and won’t been able to work for up to three months causing us to rely on one income for a while. Then, our recent vacation was interrupted by tropical storm Alberto and we had to evacuate the Florida campground the day we arrived. Looking back, I began to notice more hair in the drain during vacation so most likely it was the perfect stress storm that led to my falling follicles. l’ll keep you updated on this as it all plays out. Luckily, everything I read says it’s temporary.

As mentioned in my last post, I began using an app called Senza. I documented everything I put in my mouth and watched my macros to keep them within the recommended targets for my specific body type, age, gender, etc. The app provides recipe ideas and also connects with others so you can support your friends and get food ideas from one another’s food logs.

At around the two week mark, I experienced the whole ‘keto flu’ feeling which was pretty miserable. I generally didn’t feel good. Was tired, achy and albeit a bit grumpy. I purchased testing strips and peed on them nearly every day after that to look at my ketone levels.

Life got a bit hectic and after about two months of using the app, I acquired some strong new eating habits and bonus, my sugar cravings practically stopped. I also didn’t feel hungry as often as I expected I would. So, I stopped tracking everything I ate with the app and have done okay without it since. I’ll occasionally look up the carb count on something with the app, but mostly I’m no longer being super strict with making sure I’m in ketosis or freaking out over the thought of throwing myself out of ketosis for a day or two.

Side note: I do think it’s possible to trade one addiction for another, even if it’s a healthier addiction…like being strict with your food. So, I’m being careful this time around to not be so hard on myself and take this one day at a time. If I want to eat some of a friend’s cheesecake fruit salad at a family campout, I’m gonna do it. My body will bitch at me over it, as it did on Monday and Tuesday this week, but I’m not depriving myself to the point of feeling like a failure if I live a little.

Today there are only trace amounts of ketones in my urine. This doesn’t surprise me as I’ve been playing around with carb cycling this week in response to my hair issue. Despite this issue, I’m still completely sold on the low carb lifestyle as it has really helped me with my sugar addiction and cravings. Since I train so hard nearly five days per week and perform roughly 20 hours of massage each week, I’m now researching and will re-evaluate my eating plan. I wasn’t always working out this hard when I started keto so this is something I’ll probably need to adapt a bit.

My workouts graduated in frequency and difficulty from last fall to-date. I’ll begin to get into what my weekly workout regimen is in my next post. My trainer has also agreed to let me interview him for my next post. While the keto diet was my kickstart in January, exercise and strength training has made all the difference these last several months.

I’ll wrap up this post with a list of my must-haves when it comes to food. Over the last almost six months, I’ve managed to be super creative with food and have managed to find some staples that I keep around the kitchen. These items have helped me through monthly menstrual cycle cravings as well as the occasional comfort food emergency. Lol!

• Lily’s Stevia-sweetened chocolate bars (and chips)
• Zevia sodas (especially Cola and Root Beer)
• Almond flour (for the 90-second single serving bread recipe)
• Mama Lupe’s low carb tortillas (I’ve used these for quesadillas, sandwich wraps, breakfast burritos and even cut them and baked them for nacho chips!)
• Swerve sweetener (mainly for recipes, like the Big Mac salad, which is what the picture is of at the top of this post)

I’ve also come up with a couple recipes on my own and will post them here with pictures and directions at some point. 🙂

Have an awesome week, friends!